Free Investor Information Assistance worldwide

Different banks and accounts serve you differently. To Compare bank savings accounts:

Before moving money or opening / closing accounts check what rates would apply at different balances. It may pay you to increase your balance if you are able to do so.

If you transfer only part of the sum indicated above, then lower rates of interest may be earned on both the account you have transferred to and the remaining balance on your existing account.

Before closing an accountdo check that you do not lose any entitlement to windfall payments/shares.

Check the specific product information and rates with both your previous and prospective savings banks before moving money or opening / closing accounts.

Rates may change over time so a competitive rate now may not be a competitive rate in the future. Banks that claim to pay a higher interest on your savings now may lower those rates soon after you pay in your money to them. This is a typical ING bank’s trick.

Watch out for penalties or loss of interest when changing accounts and any different penalties the new provider may impose. Penalties are usually hidden in small letters on published bank policies.

Consider any other relationships you have with your existing savings bank, your own specific needs for flexibility and access to your money and the quality of service.

Do not be misled by bank escape clauses or caviats like “Whilst every effort is made to ensure accuracy, our bank cannot take any responsibility for any errors or omissions.” or “Past returns are no guarantee for the future”. Banks try to cover their ass with such escape clauses, but they are still responsible for protecting your capital, no matter what happens anyway.

Consumption as word became popular from Adam Smith’s term consumptibility used in 1763 as a replacement for comestibleness (comeasttibleness) which was coined by Mandeville from comestible or edible based on comedere Latin to eat. Mandeville used the term for the opulence or virtue of prostitutes above honest women offering the conveniences and necessaries of life.

The idea is that anything of value derives its value from those conveniences and comfort it offers. In Mandeville’s view, prostitutes offer the rich a certain comfort; in Adam Smith’s view, treasures offer a value that can eventually be used up. (see Adam Smith’s Economics)

IronPig iron is cast iron high (over 4%) in carbon, liable to break or crack under shock. Wrought iron comes from burning off some of the carbon in pig iron and working it (hammering, drilling, forging) to make it tougher against shock, more resistant to corrosion. It combines strength with malleability. Steel has even less carbon than wrought iron and is more flexible and stronger, and takes more stress. Layered steel, invented in Nurenberg, extra-strong blades are produced by folding cementation steel edge over itself, re-hammering and refolding and re-hammering it repeatedly as in making Samurai swords. Crucible steel was invented by Benjamin Huntsman in 1740 and especially serves the making of springs.

Monroe Doctrine was only a declaration by US president James Monroe in 1823 and was never ratified by an act of congress and thus is no law. It claims that any further European colonial ambitions in the western hemisphere would be regarded as a threat to US peace and security and that the USA would not interfere in European affairs.

It aimed at restricting European powers from intervention against South American colonies (now states) that became independent. The doctrine was in fact drafted by John Quincy Adams to engulf previous statements by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. It has since been applied elsewhere to freed colonies, dominions, protectorates, dependencies and overseas departments that could attract European or imperial interest.

Guinea as name came from the Berber word ‘akal-n-iguinaouen‘, meaning ‘land of blacks‘; similar to the names Sudan, Azania and Ethiopia’ which all refer to the African dark skin colour. Seventeenth century maps showed ‘genehoa‘ as a region approximately that of today’s Mauretania and Mali, north of Senegal. However, Guinea was taken as the whole wide region south of the Niger river in West Africa, including today’s Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Because Guinea and Gold Coast were both sources of gold, there is speculation that the two words may be etymologically related. From time immemorial, stories have been told of rich African rulers with huge wealth of gold obtained from the sub-Saharan hinterland, including one Ibn Batussa who took so much gold as gift on his way to Mecca, that the price of gold fell dramatically everywhere he came. The high purity of African gold gave the guinea gold coin a higher value than the English Pound Sterling – 21 instead of 20 shillings.

Out of colonial European greed, the association with gold gave Guinea such an appeal that other areas elsewhere in the world also got the name, including New Guinea in the Indies north of Australia in Oceania, former Dutch Guyana (Surinam), and Guinea Bissau west of Liberia and Portuguese Guinea. In south America, there are the French Guyana and British Guyana all named from a corruption of Guinea. The proper Guinea today is the West African country Guinea with Conakry as its capital.

Conakry The capital of Guinea dates from 1884 and was called Konakri by the Susu folk, meaning ‘beyond waters‘ or the other shore; on account of its remote location on the peninsula.

Fouta Djalon This slope in Guinea got its name from the ‘Dialonke’ people. Fouta – Plain in Senegal took the name from the Mande word for ‘plain‘.